Thanks to the wonder of 3D printing, scientists have managed to create a real, working heart — out of a patient's own cells.
The heart measures about 2.5 centimeters long, which is around "the size of a rabbit's heart," Bloomberg reports. Although it's certainly too small to function as a human heart, it was printed using an ink made from a patient's biological materials, meaning it's an exact match for the patient in question.
A process like this, which converts fatty tissue from the patient into stem cells and the so-called "bio ink," could be used to print tissue to patch diseased hearts, or even replace a heart entirely. Because it's made from each individual patient, the risk of an organ rejection is greatly lessened, said Tal Dvir, a professor at Tel Aviv University who directed the project.
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This medical breakthrough was published on Monday in the journal Advanced Science, where it laid out the possibility of "personalized tissues and organs" being custom-printed for patients who need them, rather than those patients relying on organ donors.
While the tiny version of the heart took about three hours to print, it's estimated that a human-sized one could take a full day, and would require many more cells from the patient. But it's worth exploring whether these 3D-printed tissues could practically serve to replace a diseased heart with "something that works," Dvir said.
Read more about the research at Bloomberg.
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